Studies in Secrets
by virginiagirl101
Summary: AU of Season 1 where Annie breaks up with Vaughn after Pottery, and her relationship with Jeff goes from there.


**AN: So, I know you're waiting on a chapter, but I got this idea about a week ago, planned it out, and figured I might as well write it. It is betad by lunarblue21, because she is awesome and always willing to read my fic. Please, please review!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. If I did this would have happened.**

**Summary: AU of Season 1 where Annie breaks up with Vaughn after Pottery, and her relationship with Jeff goes from there.**

_Studies in Secrets_

Annie figures out the problem the weekend after Jeff's pottery freak out. She and Vaughn have been dating a couple of months now, and it's going really great. She really cares about him (she can't say she loves him yet, not with . . . certain other factors), and she knows he cares about her—and that's nice, really, to have someone care about her. It's allowed her to overlook other things he does. Or at least it did. Until today.

Today they were celebrating their one month anniversary . . . which had been last week. They had tried to celebrate it on time, but Vaughn had convinced her that the restaurant they were going to wouldn't be popular on a weekday, so there was no need for a reservation. That had turned out to _not_ be the case. And he had promised that he would make a reservation for today. But, as she had just found out a minute ago, that had not happened.

"What do you mean you didn't make a reservation for today?" she asks him. "You know what happened last week, and today is a weekend, so it will probably be worse!"

He smiles sheepishly at her. "Well, I was going to, but then I got in the zone playing guitar and I forgot."

She sighs turning to face him full on. "Vaughn. You _know_ how important this date is to me. You couldn't have stopped the zone just for this? Now our day is ruined."

He stares at her aghast. "Babe. You don't just _stop the zone_. Besides, we can have a picnic in the Park under the tree."

"We do that all the time. I wanted this to be special, it's our one month anniversary."

He looks down. "I'm sorry babe, I didn't really mean to. But all that matters is that it's you, me, and nature. In fact, this will probably be better than some restaurant with barbaric rules about shirts."

She looks down again, conflicted. She really likes Vaughn. But if this is going to be how all their dates are (and she's noticed a pattern) . . . she doesn't think they should do this. "Vaughn, I think we should talk."

He looks up at her seriously. "Come on babe, can't this wait for later?"

She meets his gaze head on. "No it can't. And I think that you know it."

He looks down, which is as good an answer as any.

"Look Vaughn," she starts. "I really like you. And you've been a great boyfriend. But, I just don't think this is going to work."

"If this is about me, I can change, I promise," he tells her. "I'll make reservations, and plan everything out . . ."

"Vaughn, no." she cuts him off. "I like you as you, I really do." he nods, sighing. "I just don't think I can date you. And I don't think you really want to date me."

He pulls her to him in a hug. "I do really like you," he tells her.

She nods. "And I like you too." She pauses, unsure. "And there's nothing that says we can't be friends, right?"

He meets her gaze with a smile that used to make her heart flip, but now does nothing. "Right."

It takes Annie about twenty seconds to realize that she doesn't want to tell the others about her break up with Vaughn. She knows that none of them really respect or care about the relationship, and that she'll only get a mixture of pitying looks and 'I told you sos', and she really doesn't want to deal with either. Luckily April Fool's Day comes around, and she can be distracted by trying to protect the school and one up Shirley.

After the crying mess of a hug the study group turns into after Britta's crimes and Jeff's plots were revealed, the study group members pull back, realize that it's suddenly gotten awkward, and all flee. Except, Annie notices, for Jeff. Who is still handcuffed to the chair. With her handcuffs. Which she has to unlock him from. Great.

She grabs the key from her bag, and turns around to face him, noticing him smirking at her. Without saying anything, she walks around behind him and kneels down to start unlocking him.

"You better hope lover boy doesn't see this," Jeff says, and she can hear the smirk in his voice, "it probably wouldn't look to good for you to be unlocking an obvious better specimen of man hood."

Annie laughs nervously, not sure what to say. If she tells the truth she'll get interrogated. If she brushes it off, he'll be suspicious. Either way it won't end out well, so she decides to go the path of least resistance (and maybe, maybe, a small part of her is hoping for Jeff to pull out that soft, sweet, adorable side she has only seen on the surface a handful of times but knows is down below all the time.)

"Um, I wouldn't worry about that," she tells him as she takes off first one cuff, then the other, and helps him move his hands around.

"Oh, and why is that? Is Vaughn too good for me?" he asks with laughter in his voice.

She laughs awkwardly as she comes around in front of him, looking down. "No, we um, we broke up."

Suddenly he's not laughing anymore. "What? Annie."

She fakes a smile. "It's not a big deal Jeff, anyway, you're free to go so we should get out of here," she turns around and tries to walk away, but Jeff grabs one of her arms, stopping her and pulling her to face him.

"Annie, what happened?" he asks her gently, and the look on his face is one of pure concern.

"Nothing much," she says, with a smile she knows he can tell is fake. "I just realized we weren't compatible, and there was no use in us remaining in a relationship."

"Why didn't you tell any of us?" he asks, and she realizes with a jolt she thought she'd gotten rid of that he was still concerned. "I mean, he didn't even write a stupid song."

She laughs awkwardly. "Um, well you all saw it coming right?" she asks, looking down in embarrassment. "Silly Annie Edison, getting involved in a relationship that could never last." When he doesn't respond, she goes on to kill the silence. "I mean, who was I kidding, really? It never could have worked. Vaughn is cool, and relaxed, and not worried, and I'm . . . me."

Jeff grabs her chin, and shakes his head. "Annie. It's not wrong to want to try. Obviously you really liked Vaughn, and he really liked you. There's nothing wrong in acting on that attraction, and I'm sorry I made you feel like there was." There's a silence there as their eyes meet, and Annie can feel herself softening, before Jeff shifts and grins teasingly at her. "That doesn't explain the lack of song though."

She blushes. "Oh, we agreed we'd stay friends. We still care about each other, just not enough to make a relationship work.

Jeff surprises her by shaking his head again. "Well, if it's any consolation, he's an idiot," she must look as surprised/confused as she feels, because he goes on. "Any guy would be lucky to date you, and to give up without really even trying makes him stupider than I thought."

Annie can't help but smile at that, and then Jeff is smiling back. And suddenly they are back to the debate, and to the table stare down, and Annie should feel guilty for falling back into this pattern when she's just broken up with Vaughn, but in a way she knows this was essentially inevitable, that even in her relationship with Vaughn, this . . . thing . . . with Jeff was still there.

As she's thinking, Jeff's smile softens into something she's never seen before, and she can feel her smile soften back. And then all of a sudden, they remember who they are, in what context, and the awkwardness lights up the room.

"Um, I've got a thing," Jeff tells her, hurriedly grabbing his stuff.

"Yeah, me too, it's important," she says, putting her bag on her back.

They walk out the study room together, exchange one more wide eyed glance, and zip off in opposite directions.

Annie doesn't have much contact with Jeff in the next few weeks, especially once the Chicken Finger Mafia starts, and they all have to stay to their roles. And then it all gets out of control, and they kick Jeff out, and then Abed _ruins her backpack_, and she realizes that she needs to make him pay. And so she (and the rest of the group) run back to Jeff, and as always he jumps into help them. However, in the aftermath of his and Abed's confrontation, and the realization that Abed felt he could relate to people once, Annie just feels awful and guilty about the whole thing.

Someone must notice she's been feeling down, because that Friday she walks into study group to find a nice backpack, one good enough to replace the one Abed had gotten her on the table. She stops, shocked, because she doesn't know who in their right mind would get her a backpack. After some internal debate, she decides that it doesn't matter and goes up to inspect and feel it.

"Whoa, sister, what do you got there?" Britta says as she walks into the room with the others to see Annie examining the backpack.

"It's a backpack," Annie breathes out.

"What so great about a backpack?" Pierce demands. "In my day you needed a car to yourself to put that look on a girl's face, if you know what I mean" he chortles.

Everyone gives him a grossed outlook. "Ew, Pierce," Annie whines. "Besides, it's not just _any_ backpack. It was rated one of the top ten backpacks of the year."

Shirley smiles. "Oh, that's nice," she coos. "Does Annie have a secret admirer?" And she's shooting a look at Troy, who just looks confused.

"Whatever she has, it's not helping us study for Spanish," Britta announces. "Can we please start on that? I have an, um, thing I have to get to."

As everyone pulls out their books, Annie notices Jeff looking at her with a small smile on his face. And after study session, when everyone else starts to leave, Jeff hangs back. So she does too.

"That backpack's really something, huh?" Jeff asks with a smirk.

She nods excitedly. "Did you get it for me?" when he just looks down, her grin widens. "Thanks, Jeff, it's great."

He smirks at her. "Well, we wouldn't want you to freak out and be heartbroken over your lack of backpack, would we?"

She rolls her eyes. "And what's _that_ supposed to mean? Don't worry Jeff, Crazy Annie isn't going to come out just because her backpack got ruined."

He sighs, looking slightly shocked. "Annie, I didn't mean it like that, come on."

"No, Jeff," she starts, because she's sick of this. "What's so wrong about being Type A that no one ever wants to put up with me? What's so crazy about wanting things in their place? Why do I have to change myself to get along with and be more attractive to others without anyone changing themselves for me?"

He sighs, bowing his head. "Look Annie, like I said, I didn't mean it like that," he stops to give her a disapproving look when she snorts. "Really. I . . . I like things being organized too. I don't like it when my schedule is thrown off, even if it is my own unique schedule. But you need to relax sometimes soon, before you explode."

"Oh, because you're so good at relaxing!"

"Hey, I can relax!" At her disbelieving look he goes on. "Look Annie, maybe I'm not 100% stress free here, but I do leave here at times! Sometimes you have to let everything in your day go and just relax at night!"

She laughs harshly. "Well, maybe you can help me with that," she says sarcastically.

He swallows roughly. "Maybe I can."

Her head jerks up at him because . . . he's serious. "What?" she breathes out, and their gazes lock again.

Their gazes stay on each other. Jeff is a cross between being awkward, being shocked, and kicking himself. Annie feels too shocked to be anything else. They stay quiet for a few minutes, staring at each other. And then Jeff speaks. "Look, Annie, um, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that."

She nods, relieved and a bit disappointed. "No, um, I know you didn't. I mean, obviously."

He nods, turning to walk away. He takes three steps before he turns around and walks back to her. "You know what?" he asks her, an exhilarated look on his face. "Screw it."

She gapes. Swallows. "Um, what?" she asks.

He meets her gaze head on. "Annie, I did mean that. I would love to teach you relax. Do you want to get dinner with me tonight?"

She swallows. "Dinner? Like a friend."

He swallows too, deflating. "Um, if that's all you want—I understand, considering your break up and all, but um, I was thinking"

"A date?" she cuts him off, feeling hope rise in her chest and her eyes go wide.

His eyes widen, and he nods in response.

"I'd love to," she rushes out, and he slumps in relief.

"Um, then do you want to meet at my car, and I'll drive you to the restaurant?" he asks her.

She nods. "Sounds like a plan."

He smiles and her, and she returns it, feeling exhilarated. This time when they walk in different directions she can't stop smiling.

It's a few weeks later when Jeff storms into study group complaining about the group of teens. Her relationship with Jeff is going strong, but they've decided to keep it a secret until they figure out what they're doing, so as not to upset the group. Therefore, even though she wants to comfort him, she can't without it being suspicious. And then Pierce upsets Shirley, and Annie is too busy dealing with that to pay really close attention to what's going on with Britta. Until it suddenly hits her in the face.

"You need to bang that kid's mom," she hears Britta say. To Jeff. Whose face has just lit up. Annie can feel her heart start to sink.

But then something unexpected happens. Jeff catches her eye. And turns back to Britta. "Britta that is genius!"

Britta lights up. "I know!"

"Um, guys, we need to concentrate on Shirley," Annie says, trying to break up this conversation.

"No, you're right," Jeff says, meeting her eye again before turning back to Britta. "But that could backfire so badly, Britta."

Britta looks shocked. "What?"

"I mean, it's a great idea," Jeff assures her. "But we need a foolproof one to smack these guys in the face."

And then Britta's excited again. "Yes, okay do you have any ideas?"

"Well," Jeff starts, "We could"

"GUYS," Annie snaps. "You can focus on getting one over on some dumb teenage brat who's too image conscious to matter later. We need to concentrate on Shirley."

Jeff and Britta exchange a wide eyed glance. "Right, Shirley," they say together.

Britta turns to Jeff. "Let's ruin their image."

Jeff lights up. "That is genius! Because then we can turn everything they say back on them!"

Annie rolls her eyes and starts walking off. But she can't fight the smile that's spreading across her face. And when she chances a glance at Jeff once he's caught up with her, she can see that he's smiling at her too.

Later on, after Jeff and Britta have embarrassed themselves with a 'nah off', and a food fight ensues (which Annie totally kicks butt at, thank you very much), she finds herself covered with food, and starts trying to wipe it off her.

"Come here", Jeff says, walking up to her and looking around before stealthily grabbing her hand and leading her out of the cafeteria.

"Jeff," she starts, struggling to keep pace with him. "Where are we going?"

He looks down, notices her struggle, and slows down. "You're done for the rest of the day, right?"

She nods, confused. "What does that have to do with anything?"

He chuckles. "I have a couple of extra changes of clothes and a couple towels in this bag."

He leads her into a bathroom and locks the door. "I figured I could help you clean off, and then we could get out of this place and . . . relax . . . some."

She smirks at him shyly. "You just want to see me in your clothes."

He laughs, wiping some food off her face with his hands. "You caught me. I like the way you look in my clothes. And in your clothes. And in no clothes entirely." And he pulls her in for a kiss.

She blushes, but kisses him back for a few seconds, before pulling back when she tries to run her hands through his hair and finds it caked with food. "Well, if we get cleaned up soon enough, you might get your wish."

He grins at her. "I knew it. You found me kicking those kids in the ass to be attractive, didn't you?"

She rolls her eyes. "Yes, you almost losing a nah off with a bunch of high schoolers was super attractive."

"Hey, don't try to deny it—you found it to be attractive. In fact, I think you should give me a reward"

She grins up at him. "Well, maybe if you get us cleaned up fast enough, you'll be worthy of a reward."

She's never been toweled off so quickly.

Jeff isn't sure what to think when he finds himself alone with only Britta to patch him up during the paintball finale. A few months ago, he'd have been ecstatic to be in this position. Now, though, he just finds himself wishing Annie was here. He pulls of his shirt so Britta can help patch him up.

"Can you imagine if the group were here?" she asks. "They wouldn't let us live it down."

"Oh yeah?" he asks.

"Yeah," she laughs. "This is like an action film stereotype. The wounded hero, the female nursing him back to health."

He chuckles. "I see your point. Lucky for us, life isn't a movie."

"I know," she smiles. "Can you imagine, though?"

He grins at her. "Well, the group wouldn't be surprised."

She laughs, her gaze dropping down to his lips. "Yeah." And then she leans into kiss him.

He pulls back before their lips can meet. "Britta. What are you doing?"

She looks shocked. "Oh come on, I'm a girl and I'm willing. It's not like you don't want it."

He's annoyed, (and a little hurt), that she thinks that little of him. "I'm not going to sleep with you just so you can gain the upper hand at paintball!"

She looks shocked and offended. "Ew! That's gross, Jeff," she whines.

He pulls on his shirt. "Oh come on, like you weren't thinking about it!"

She pauses. "That doesn't mean you should assume that I would do it!"

His response is cut out by the sound of gunshots firing rapidly. They both jump over the couch as Chang comes in. "Buenos Dias, children!" he announces, laughing maniacally. "You'll be happy to know you made it to the end!"

He and Britta exchange wide eyed looks. "You're not even a student!" he yells out at him.

"Wrong! Critical Media Literacy and Politics of Gender, Beyotch!" and then he's firing again.

Jeff turns to look at Britta to see her staring at him. "Look," she says. "I don't think either of us are going to win. Not if he's here."

He nods. "Working together is not going to work this time."

She sighs. "It was nice working with you, partner."

They shake hands. Then Britta goes one way, Jeff goes the other. Her shirt sticks out more, and Chang takes her down. He isn't expecting the dual paintballs to hit him from both sides.

Jeff lands, breathing heavily and exchanging a glance with Britta. Chang went for her—he won! He's the winner! Suddenly Chang starts laughing maniacally.

"What's so funny Chang?"

"Maybe it's the fact that there's no such thing as priority registration! Or maybe it's this!"

At the sight of the bomb, Jeff exchanges a glance with Britta before diving out of the room.

The next day, Britta comes up to him. "Hey," she says with a smile.

"Hey. You have something in your hair," he tells her with a smirk.

"Man, it took me three washes to get this much out!" she states. There's an awkward pause, and then she continues. "Anyway, I wanted to congratulate you."

"Um, on what?" he asks.

"On pushing aside you libido to win the game—I know it must have been hard, and it must have been a first for you."

He laughs awkwardly, before catching Annie's smiling gaze through the window. "Yeah—I guess I just realized I'd rather win something else."

At his house after the Spanish Final, Jeff looks down to see Annie snuggled against his side on the couch. He stares at her for a few minutes, before she turns to look at him with a bright smile on her face. "Hey," she says softly.

He can't help but smile back. "Hey." She turns back to the TV, but he can't help but stare at her. Annie had sabotaged the group. She had been so sure that they—that he—would leave her if they weren't together that she tried to make them repeat a class. And that . . . hurts.

She turns back to face him, and his thoughts must show on his face. "Is everything okay?" she asks.

He sighs, and decides to be honest for once. "No."

She's confused. "What? Was it something I did?"

He registers how sad it is that three months into their relationship, she still thinks everything is her fault. "Yes."

She gasps. "What? What did I do?"

"Um, do you really need to ask that, Annie?" he snaps. At her confused look, he figures she does. "You thought I was going to leave you." She starts to freeze in his arms. "You thought that because we weren't in the same class anymore, I would just leave you behind. I mean, you should know better to think that about any of us, but what does it say about me? That you would think I would abandon you, after all we've been through? Exactly how much are you invested in this relationship?"

He wants to go on, but she stops him by putting her hands on his cheeks. Her hands are cool against his skin, and she looks worried, eyes wide and about to tear up (tears he can feel echoed in his own eyes.) "Jeff, stop," she says gently.

"No, Annie." He responds quietly. "I'm your fucking boyfriend. We've been together three months. This is a longer relationship than I've had in forever—way longer than the one with Michelle." She flinches at the name of his ex. "I thought we were in this together, for as long as it lasts. Then I find out that you expect me to leave when we're not in the same class? How the fuck did you expect that to make me feel? How fucking shallow do you think I am?"

Her grip tightens, eyes wide and tears spilling over. "Jeff, stop," she chokes out. Her tears have always been his weakness, so he does. "It's not you, Jeff, okay?" she asks. "It's me." His expression must be as confused as he feels, because she goes on. "I just look at you, okay. You're Jeff Winger. You could have any girl you want, easy. And then look at me. I'm a former addict, I'm too neurotic for my own good, I'm so insecure I have no clue how anyone puts up with me, I actually _like_ school. I guess I just don't see why someone as amazing as you would want to put up with me." At this point, tears are streaming down her face, and he can feel his own throat tighten.

He turns to face her, taking her face in his hands. "Look, Annie, I love you, okay? I love all those things. And I can't spend this whole relationship proving it to you. So eventually you're just going to have to trust me when I tell you that I'm not going anywhere."

She nods, sniffling in. "Then you have to believe me when I tell you that I love you. And you have to be able to look beyond my insecurities, and realize that I'm not going anywhere either."

He meets her eyes and huffs out a laugh, before leaning forward and kissing her. He pushes her back so she's laying on the couch, and he runs her fingers through her hair. He pulls back, leaning in to press a kiss against the side of her head.

"I love you, Annie Edison, okay?" he murmurs into her ear.

She nods against his neck, where her lips are firmly pressed. "And I love you, Jeff Winger." She murmurs back.

The night of the Tranny Dance, Jeff is freaking out. Because Annie had to work last minute, so she ended up not being able to come (and her groans of despair could be heard across campus). And then Michelle came back, and apparently she wants him back (So. Not. Happening.). And then Britta decided that, because Michelle wants him back, she wants him, which would have made him ecstatic 3 months ago, but now it just makes him awkward. So he leaves them to their competition and pulls out his phone, composing a text.

_Michelle has crawled out of the woodwork and now she and Britta are fighting over me, what do I do? Seriously I'm creeped out here, I need advice. _

He keeps his phone out, and keeps checking it throughout the night, hoping to get a response. Which is how he fails to notice that Britta and Michelle are about to corner him and the refreshments table. After _that_ awkward experience (seriously his face is squeaky clean), he texts her again.

_This would all go away if we announced our relationship, what do you think? (Seriously though, I need help and ASAP. Are you SURE you have to work all night?)_

Then Slater kisses him unexpectedly, and before he can deal with _that _situation, Britta announces that she loves him. And now he's really panicking, and usually he'd look to Annie on guidance on how to be a better person, but she's not here at the moment. So he has to face it himself.

And while he's talking to Britta, trying to gently let her down, Michelle announces her love for him. And now he's really annoyed, because he's not a crayon to be fought over, okay? And then everyone expects him to choose, and Ian makes a distraction, so Jeff does what he has always done best, especially when Annie's not around to stop him—he runs from his problems.

As he walks out, he's not really paying attention. Which is why he's almost on top of Annie before he notices her. "What are you doing here?" he asks, surprised.

She shrugs, looking shy. "It sounded like you needed me, so I convinced my boss to let me off early." She brings him into a hug, before pulling back and examining his face. "What's wrong? Why are you leaving so early?"

He laughs awkwardly. "Funny story, actually," at her skeptical look, he looks down. "They both announced their love for me," he says quietly.

"They WHAT?" Annie asks, sounding shocked and a little bit jealous.

"Michelle kissed me,"

"What?" Annie says again, sounding shocked and a bit hurt.

He pulls her into a hug again. "No, she kissed me, I was trying to push her away without being violent. Seriously, Annie, I didn't want her to kiss me, you have to believe me."

Annie tilts her head to look at him. "Okay, what else happened?"

"Britta saw her and announced that she loves me. To the entire school. And when I was trying to deal with that Michelle announced the same thing. And then Duncan got into a fight with Chang and I ran away."

Annie meets his gaze evenly. "That wasn't really fair to them was it?"

He groans. "I know Annie, I know I'm a horrible person, but I didn't know what to say and I didn't want to upset you by telling them we're together, so I just ran away. And please don't make me go back in there, I don't want to handle this, I just want to go home and be with you."

Annie met his gaze. "You are dealing with this tomorrow."

He nods "I know, I promise."

She nods. "Okay, then, take me home."

He feels relief rush over him. "Really?"

She nods, and he leans down and kisses her, pulling her tight to him and up to his level. After a while, she pulls back, and he opens his eyes slowly.

"This isn't the best place for this, especially tonight," she tells him firmly, grabbing his hand. "I took a cab, so you owe me a ride."

As Britta reflects on what had happened the night before, she just feel embarrassed. Not only had a man caused her to make a fool of herself (which went against everything she held dear), but she had done it in front of the whole school. And the worse thing was she didn't even have feelings for Jeff! She had just wanted to beat Slater, to rub into her snooty, self-righteous face that Jeff would rather be with someone like Britta—and she _knew_ Slater looked down on her and viewed her to be lower than herself! But she was a strong, independent female. Which means that now that she can look back at the night before and reflect on it, she realizes she was in the wrong. And she doesn't want things to be awkward for the group. So here she is. About to apologize. To Jeff Winger. (My, the tables have turned.)

She knocks on the door to Jeff's new condo, which results in the sound of quick moving and heavy footsteps. The door opens, and she starts her apology. "Hey, I know you probably have no desire to ANNIE!?"

Because she's not seeing things. Annie Edison, the one member of the study group absent last night, just opened Jeff Winger's door. In shorts and a shirt that _obviously_ doesn't belong to her. Annie appears to be as shocked to see Britta at the door as Britta is to see Annie, and her face has turned pretty red.

"Britta?" Annie squeaks out. "What are you doing here?" she asks in her normal voice.

"I'd ask you that, but I think I already know," Britta smirks. "Is Jeff around?"

Annie seems to come back to herself at that, opening the door with a nod. "Yeah, come in. He's in the kitchen," she explains.

As Britta walks into the apartment, she can smell coffee and something that might be breakfast. Once she's fully in the apartment, she sees Jeff, in pajama bottoms and a tank top like he wore for Paintball.

"Did you get rid of the annoyance?" he asks, looking up at Annie with a smirk. Then he notices her. "Britta?"

She laughs awkwardly. "Hey."

"Hi," he says. "Um, what are you doing here?"

She looks him in the eye, because the situation may not be desirable, but she's Britta Perry and she doesn't back down. "I came to apologize. For last night," she allows her gaze to travel towards Annie, and then back to Jeff pointedly. "It appears I have more to apologize for than I thought."

He shifts. "Yeah, um. Apology accepted," he tells her. "And it's not exactly like you knew about the other stuff, so . . ."

Britta wants to say something else, but she doesn't really know what to say. That appears to be okay, though, because Jeff is currently focused on staring intently at Annie. Who is staring back just as intently. Jeff breaks the gaze after a while, turning back to Britta. "I want to apologize for last night too. It wasn't fair for me to leave you there. I just . . . I didn't know how to handle the situation, because I didn't _want_ it. But I also didn't want to upset Annie. So . . . yeah."

She nods. "No, it was my fault. I mean, yeah, it was crappy that you ran out, but I should never have put you in that situation . . . she just makes me so mad, you know?" Because Britta is an adult, and that means she has to accept the consequences of her actions.

Surprisingly, it's not Jeff, but Annie that responds. "Oh, I have some idea," she mutters under her breath.

They both turn to look at her in surprise. "What?" she asks defensively. "Not only did she make the idiotic move of dumping you for no reason, but then she expected you to gleefully take her back with no questions asked. Obviously someone is a little full of herself."

As she says this, she maneuvers her way until she's standing next to Jeff. Who is looking at her with a look of soft amusement/affection Britta has never seen or imagined on his face before. After Annie stops speaking, he nudges her hip with his. She reciprocates, and they exchange a stare that is so deeply emotional Britta has to look away.

After a few seconds, she looks back up and sees that the stare has died down. "So." She starts, causing them to look at her. "You two. Together. In pajamas. What's with that?"

Annie flushes again, looking down. "Well, we're together."

Britta nods. "Believe it or not, Annie, I had figured that one out," she tells her. Jeff snorts.

When no more information is forthcoming, she rolls her eyes. "So, how long has this been going on for?" she asks.

They exchange glances. "Um, three months?" Jeff asks, pouring three cups of coffee.

Annie nods. "Since right after the Chicken Finger Mafia."

Britta shudders at the reminder of her part in the murder and sale of innocent animals. "And this has been going on since then?"

They nod. "Yeah, we've been together pretty much since," Jeff says, passing her one of the cups, made just like she likes it.

"So why didn't you tell anyone?" she asks.

Annie shrugs. "At first we wanted to see where this was going without anyone judging us or making snide comments."

Britta nods. "I can see that. And after the beginning?"

Jeff shrugs. "I guess it just harder to explain the more serious it got."

Britta fixes him with a _look_. "And how serious is it?"

"Well, um, it's pretty serious," he stammers out, looking more nervous than Britta has ever seen.

Annie rolls her eyes (and since when does _that_ happen? Jeff is such a bad influence.) "That's Wingerese for 'we're in love,'" she states dryly.

Their eyes lock again, and Britta can see the truth of that statement reflected in their eyes. She sighs, helping herself to one of the waffles Annie's made and leaning over the counter. "Well don't expect me to help you keep this a secret," she tells them dryly. "It's been three months, you're going to have to get over your fear sometime."

They look at her in surprise, realizing that it's as much of an endorsement as they'll get. They exchange a grin. And then the three of them share waffles and coffee, leaning against the counter in Jeff's apartment.


End file.
